Review for The Town Of Light. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 26/02/2016 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 06/06/2017 The version for Xbox One came out on 06/06/2017
For some years the videogame environment, perhaps due to a certain saturation of genres and scarcity of ideas, has no longer been limited to the classic and sometimes abused shooters, fighting games, simulators and driving titles.
Titles such as Flower, Journey, Limbo, Braid, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery, Dear Esther and many others, often excellent, have confirmed the willingness of many developers to abandon tried and tested paths, but now withered, in favor of an experiment that almost always led to excellent titles, sometimes authentic masterpieces of the genre.
LKA is an independent Florentine company, founded by Luca Dalcò after a long (and apparently fruitful) activity in the field of computer graphics, which has so far developed only one title: The Town Of Light.
Released for PC on February 26, 2016 and updated with Oculus Rift support on May 9, The Town Of Light arrives today in Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions, thanks also to the collaboration between LKA, THQ Nordic and Wired Productions, which they are involved in the distribution of the title in physical version.
Strengthened by an excellent and mature plot, as well as an intelligent and inspired setting, The Town Of Light has the advantage of showing with a lot of realism and delicacy a situation so far treated only in a secondary way in titles, albeit excellent, such as Outlast 2 and Layers Of Fear.
Renée's silent cry
The Town Of Light takes place entirely in the former asylum of Volterra, which actually exists (although now in ruins) and closed following the Basaglia law of 1978. A place of detention, rather than treatment, whose peak of activity corresponds to the years of the two world wars.
The protagonist of our story, Renéè, is a former patient of the institute, who returns to the now abandoned structure to reconstruct the truth that lies behind her distant hospitalization, which took place when she was just sixteen. Exploring the decadent and disturbing structures in which she spent seven years of her life, our protagonist attempts to reconstruct a story that saw her, at the time, deprived of all rights and treated as the worst of human guinea pigs with only, temporary comfort. of a doll and a very short love.
A story that, as it gradually emerges from the set of clues, documents, memories, objects and monologues of the protagonist, will turn out to be much worse than expected at the beginning, and that we do not feel like going into for fear of spoilers.
The plot of The Town Of Light is therefore the best part of LKA's work (this is the most suitable definition): there are no enemies, except those hidden in the soul of the protagonist, there are no ghosts, except those, terrifying because realistic, of his past. It completely lacks any of the splattering or jumping moments that are so frequent in many other horror titles. Yet, precisely for this extreme realism and for the ability to delicately explore the worst fears of the human being, The Town Of Light causes a sense of unease and anxiety that is much more refined and effective than many other similar titles.
Investigate the past between anxiety and fear
The Town Of Light, in theory, could be inserted in the walking simulator genre, titles characterized by the almost total lack of interaction with the surrounding environment, but also by the presence of excellent, deep plots and a strong emotional impact (such as the splendid Dear Esther ). It could, were it not that the title of LKA, in addition to the wonderful plot, also offers a limited interaction and the presence of slight puzzles.
Completely subjective (remember that the PC version also supports the Oculus Rift), our adventure requires the constant and careful search of the numerous clues and fragments of Renée's past and the history of the asylum, which will unlock situations and inner monologues of the protagonist, allowing us to move forward.
The narrating voice of Renéè, in addition to deepening many aspects of the plot, with the single press of a button (or simply after a while that we will run in circles) comes to our aid with rather clear advice on how to continue in the adventure. A deliberate mechanism, which if on the one hand further simplifies a title that is already perhaps too easy, on the other it allows to concentrate almost exclusively on the splendid story, with a calm and thoughtful rhythm accentuated by the lack of an inventory (except for a flashlight activated on command) and any stroke function.
The rare puzzles present only require you to bring and use a certain object in a precise point, to activate simple mechanisms and to scrupulously search for every possible clue that can unlock movies (also excellent and made entirely by hand) and dialogues that they will allow to reconstruct the entire story of Renée. Among the options we find a useful archive of all the previous dialogues, a medical record of the protagonist and a diary, whose pages will also be searched patiently.
The duration of our adventure is rather short: about three hours in case we want to look for all the clues and fragments of Renée's past, but it offers a certain replayability thanks to the presence of crossroads connected to the answers we will give to some of her monologues.
Moving between the walls of madness
The purely technical sector of The Town Of Light is the one that, unfortunately, more than any other comes out defeated by comparison with other similar titles.
The work of LKA, after a long initial loading, in fact alternates good moments, with well-defined textures and constant animations, especially in indoor environments, with others in which the graphic engine struggles more evidently with frequent shots in the view and annoying problems of pop up.
Defects largely fixed by a patch already available at the time of writing, but which still remain quite visible. Nothing that can compromise the excellence of The Town Of Light, considering then that we are not talking about any frenetic FPS, but an adventure with a calm and thoughtful rhythm.
But, although lacking on the side of simple technical power, LKA's work wins from the point of view of inspiration and historical and iconographic reconstruction. During the creation of the title, the developers went several times to the real asylum of Volterra, reconstructing the environments, the writings on the walls and even imitating the disturbing graffiti left by the inmates. An excellent job, almost maniacal in its excellence, which also involved the reconstruction of the equipment of the time and the authentic documents used by doctors at the time.
On the sound side we find well-made, sometimes disturbing music, by Davide “Aseptic Void” Terreni and available online for free for those who have purchased the limited edition of the LKA adventure. In conclusion, there is a more than good dubbing with the relative subtitles, obviously also made in Spanish.
The Town Of Light, more than a video game in the strict sense of the term, is an extraordinary interactive literary work. LKA's work has the courage to tell in a raw and direct way, almost poetic in its extreme sincerity, a topic that many other titles are limited only to mention in a shy and veiled way. Provided you have the necessary open-mindedness and the patience to look for all the clues of the plot, you are involved, almost trapped, in a splendid story with an unexpected ending.
The excessive initial loading and technical limitations, probably caused by the low budget available to any intelligent developer, do not in the least affect one of the best videogame experiences of this generation, which abandons any horror or splatter claim in favor of a more realistic setting, and for this very reason much more disturbing. The vote at the bottom intends to reward, beyond any technical or interactivity limit, also the courage, skill and delicacy of the developers in dealing with such delicate and complex issues as madness, loneliness and violence. An excellent first work for the Florentine company, which bodes well for future productions.
► The Town Of Light is an Adventure-Horror game developed by LKA THQ Nordic Wired Productions and published by LKA for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 26/02/2016 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 06/06/2017 The version for Xbox One came out on 06/06/2017
